Sticking to a net migration target that means nothing is simply not the way forward. We need a government who will make promises it can keep and ensure that we remain a key player in the world to help us create the jobs of the future. David Cameron has shown again today why his government will not and cannot do that.

The Tory Lie Machine is desperate to distract attention from the fact that they've raised taxes 24 times, and that tax and benefit changes since 2010 will leave the average household £974 a year worse off by the time of the next election - while giving millionaires a tax cut. But when they choose to lie about Labour's plans, we're going to call them out on it.

Our criminal justice system is currently failing victims of domestic violence. There are substantial gaps in the law that allow abusers to evade justice and enforce the view that unless there are bruises, the perpetrator hasn't done anything wrong.

I am particularly worried about the justice gap and the lack of action when it comes to violence against women. Not only have prosecutions and convictions fallen at a time when reported crimes are going up, there is a growing use of community resolutions which are just inappropriate for serious crimes. Much as the Home Office like to tell us this is OK, it isn't.

Yvette Cooper was a member of ISC, the Intelligence and Security Committee from 1997-1999, so although not a Bond girl, she knows very well how to shake surveillance discussion up and where the skeletons of the oversight are to be found.

The debate around striking the balance between security and privacy may still be in its infancy, with secrecy a well-worn habit when it comes to our security agencies. Yet it is not abundantly clear that if we do not, as the US and other countries now accept is essential, bring our legal framework and oversight mechanisms in line with the expansive surveillance made possible by modern technology, our economy our privacy and our security will all suffer.

t is clear that the consensus in support of SRE keeps on and on building, both across political parties, professional groups and the general public, but is it time to get out the party frock? Let's keep our fingers crossed, but my instinct is probably not just yet.

Last year, 1.2 million women and 800,000 men reported domestic abuse, up 10% in the past three years. In the same time frame, the number of cases the police referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) fell by 13%. In essence, fewer perpetrators were stopped and more victims remain at risk.

David Cameron's plan to introduce opt-out Internet censorship at service-provider level genuinely scares me. What's more worrying is his treatment of the technical arguments against such a move: in his speech he said, "Set your greatest brains to work on this... You're the people who have worked out how to map almost every inch of the earth from space." Which is to say: "I don't want to talk about the problems or consequences. Just do it."

So why should rape and sexual assault be treated differently? Either we have faith in our justice system, or we don't... By protecting defendants, what are we saying about our confidence in the evidence presented - which includes the reliability of the witnesses involved?

2012 has been the year of many things - but if one thing stands out to me more than anything else (even more than sport, and that's saying something) it's that 2012 has been the year of inspiring women.

The idea that this is a genuine exercise in localism just simply isn't credible, because the coalition is only interested in devolving power to two sectors: the private and the voluntary. If you want to know what Cameron and Osborne really think of local government, go and count the number of empty offices at council buildings across the land.

The latest performance of the long-running Westminster End Farce The Deportation of Abu Qatada came to the Commons stage yesterday afternoon. Its current impressario, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, had news to impart.